50 DANIEL BRUUN. 
and with his mercy I will venture in to him so as to hear what he 
wishes to say. I cannot im any case escape that which will hurt me, 
and I do not wish him to continue his haunting, which otherwise he 
might do.” 
So Gudrid went to Thorstein. It seemed to her that he was crying 
and he whispered some words, which she alone could hear, then he 
cried — so every body could hear him — that they who kept their belief, 
would be blessed, as it contained all help and mercy; but very few kept 
its commands: 
“It is a bad custom, that has entered Greenland, since Christianity 
has been introduced, to bury people in unconsecrated ground and not 
chant over them properly. I wish, that all those who have died here 
may be taken to the church, but I wish Gard to be burnt, as soon as 
possible, on a pyre as he is the cause of all the haunting which has taken 
place this winter.” 
He foretold her, her own future circumstances which he thought 
would be considerable; but he bade her beware of marrying any 
Greenland man. Their wealth he wished her to give partly to the church 
and partly to the poor; he then fell back for the second time. 
It had been the custom in Greenland after the introduction of 
Christianity to bury people on the farms where they died, in unconse- 
crated ground, setting a pole at the breast of the dead, so that the priest 
when he came later on, even if it was a long time after, could pull the 
pole up and pour holy water into the hole chanting masses over them 
at the same time. 
Thorstein and the other bodies were taken to the church in Erics- 
fiord (at Brattahlid) and the priests sang over them. Shortly after- 
wards Thorbiörn died and the great wealth fell to the lot of Gudrid, Eric 
took her to live with him and took good care of her affairs.” 
